Ok – this will be brief for now, when I get someplace that has a DECENT internet connection, I’ll write more and break down the images into more coherent groups, but this hotel is apparently using a wire hanger and some duct tape for networking equipment.

I had a pretty good time today, caught up with Darrin Brown and Sara Lamson, managed to at least say ‘Hello’ to Matt Stutzman, the folks at Bowtech (New bows! RPM 360 and Carbon Overdrive!), Real Avid, and Zippo Outoors!

And now for the deluge of photographs: (I also apologize, I’m having issues with my laptop and can’t get the Gallery editor to scroll, so there are a couple of very blurry images that I’ll delete out when I’m back on my main machine.)

Danny and I drove up to Sheffield WMA yesterday – the last three weekends, after dropping my daughter off at her ‘job’ at SoPhar Ranch (helping at a horse barn in exchange for a partial lease on a palomino gelding), we’ve headed out to the woods, the first two times, scouting at Joe Kurz WMA, yesterday, we took our bows up to Sheffield WMA since it’s open until December, and it’s archery only.

We had a good time, saw plenty of deer sign (no rubs yet though, very odd, usually we’d be seeing rub lines this time of year), and gathered our gear for an evening hunt. Danny, being apparently the offspring of a mongoose and a mountain goat, goes up and down hills like they aren’t there. I stayed in the bottom, Danny went half way up the next hill. We could both hear something playing in the river, but honestly, we had no idea if it was a river otter, Sasquatch, or a fawn,

We didn’t see anything other than woodpeckers and bugs, but a day in the woods is still better than a day indoors.

Ok! Back from Joe Kurz Wildlife Management Area and I had a blast. It always cracks me up when I camp out, particularly these days, when I tend to obsess over things like eyeglass cleaners, decongestant, salt and pepper, etc. and then forget something big.

Like, oh, a pillow and sleeping bag.

Yep, I’ve been camping since the early 1970’s – in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. I was in the Boy Scouts of America for years, and helped as a camp employee one summer, and as an assistant Scout Leader for a while, and I forgot to take a sleeping bag.

One thing to remember, if you read this and aren’t local to Atlanta, is that this time of year, most of the people out camping aren’t worried in the slightest about being COLD. Honestly, I could have slept in a pair of gym shorts on TOP of a picnic table if it wasn’t for the bugs and the rain. It’s WARM, so heat isn’t the reason for taking one, its more like an additional layer of padding between me and the ground (I use interlocking shop floor pads in my tent, nice and soft), and someplace to stick my toes in the middle of the night. But STILL, I forgot the darn thing… Luckily, the only thing more common than Dollar General stores in that area are mosquitoes. I picked up a low-cost pillow, pillow case and blanket and those worked just fine.

The original plan was for myself and my buddy Danny (mentioned before, usually during hijinks) to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday down there, but due to a broken water line, he couldn’t make it. I sent a text to Clay and he let me know that Jim was going to be down there for the weekend, so it turned into Team Bifocals all the way!*

We scouted a bit Friday afternoon, then decided where to hunt and got our gear together. We hunted the same spot Friday night and Saturday morning, but we knew that storms were rolling in, so we had to skip Saturday afternoon. (I don’t like sitting halfway up a tree, holding a lightning rod while wet and standing on a metal platform if thunderstorms are coming in, silly me…) Instead, we hung out at the Ranger station chatting with a good ol’ boy from the DNR (I could listen to his Cajun accent all day) and two state DNR rangers, while I made some coffee and soup.

This morning we put our stands in a new location, and around 8:30, Jim sent a text that he had hit a doe and watched her go down. I asked him if he needed any help and he said ‘no,’ but I decided at that point that if I didn’t see anything, I would come down around 10 a.m. since I drove and he didn’t have keys to the truck. This was Jim’s first kill with his Bowtech Experience, and he loves it!

I timed it just right, he had only been back to the truck for maybe five minutes when I got there. We loaded the doe up, recorded the kill at the WMA check-in board, and field processed the doe right there so Jim could fit her in a cooler full of ice for the trip home.

Then we went back to camp, cleaned up, packed up, and we both headed home. I was going to hunt the evening, but it would have put me home around 11pm if all went well, and well after that if I killed a deer, not to mention the whole safety aspect, so I decided to be safe and come home. And take a shower. And spray the mud off o’ my truck, etc. etc.

Enjoy the photographs 🙂 If you have any questions, visit the FaceBook page and ask me!

*(At a cookout after 3D season this year, somebody mentioned that they were letting all of their staff shooters go and starting a new, six-person shooting team named “Team *store name!*” Jim and I both wear bifocals (get off mah lawn!), so I suggested we call ourselves “Team Bifocals!” and so far the name works for us! 🙂 )

One of the staples of shooting 3D archery in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York in the 1990’s was the tree stand shot. Just about every club had at least one, if not more, permanent platforms built to use as an elevated shot position, usually these were built along the lines of a wooden deck, railing, stairs and all, somewhere on their range, but the principal of shooting at a sharp downward angle is one of the keys to being ready to shoot from a treestand in the fall.

This week, Clay invited some archers and their families to his place for some vittles (smoked wild boar) and practice. I didn’t even think to bring the camera, after all, it’s somebody else’s house, but I did have my cell phone, so when Bradley climbed up, I snapped a few photos just to share here.

Our Cystic Fibrosis shoot is this weekend – and unfortunately, just about everyone under the sun is shooting this weekend too. As always, click the NAME of the shoot to go to the Georgia Outdoor News Forum thread for that club’s shoot.

Our final shoot of the 2013 season will be held Saturday, August 17th, and will be a Cystic Fibrosis benefit shoot. THERE WILL BE NO PAYBACK! $20 single fee for all classes, $30 per family. All proceeds go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
The Cystic Fibrosis shoot prizes are:

In addition, there is an ongoing raffle for a Big Green Egg, retail value $950. Tickets are $10, the drawing will be at the shoot. Contact Kelly @ 678-614-0178 for more information or to purchase tickets in advance.

“This is the last shoot for shooter of the year. We have some close races. It going to come down to this shoot in several classes. If you have not had a chance to come check us out, then don’t hold back. Swing on in and shoot a round with us. 8 am to 3 pm. 2969 green Acers RD, Elberton, GA 30635 or call Bobby at 706-318-0610” [edited a bit for clarity – Niko]

“Hope everyone will make out to our Aug. 18 hunt shoot cause it’s going to be a blast. Some real hunt shots and some real fun shots. Hope to you all here and getting tuned up for the up coming season !!!Classes

“Rocky Comfort will be having their Cottonmouth Classic August 17 Nelms st Louisville Ga Will be some twists this year for hunters i got some surprises lined up nothing crazy but should be fun come on out shoot your bows before deer season and sit around and tell some lies. Then on Sunday august 18 be sure to go to Destiny Farm they are having a benefit shoot for one of our fellow archers and all around good guy. Check out flyer on sticky or call Olin at 706-361-1675 if i don’t answer please leave a message i will call you back.”

“Our final shoot will be next Saturday as well as the anual “ACE AWARD” shoot.
Were adding a little something extra this year to the ACE AWARD!!!
In addition to the winners getting their names on the “trophy of fame” that’s displayed at Ace Hardware in Social Circle, they will also get a belt buckle!The 3-D shoot will be the standard set-up with all normal classes/normal equipment.

The ACE AWARD shoot will consist of 5 arrows from 20yd, 5 from 30yd and 5 from 40yds. at a 3-D target for mens & seniors class. Women and youth will shoot 5 from 20yd, 5 from 25yd & 5 from 30yd. The ACE AWARD shoot is HUNTING EQUIPMENT only (12″ or less stabilizer, screw in points and fixed pins or mover behind the riser)

You can shoot either or both shoots. There’s some folks going to be trying hard to defend their title on that trophy so come on out with you hunting set-up and lets get some new names on that trophy.

“Come out and join us for our last shoot of the year. Bowhunter warmup plus a long dot in which all proceeds go into a drawing to be given away to one shooter that hits the long dot. Hope to see everyone there. For info call 706-455-5392 ask for matt“

“Grove Level will be having it’s Archery shoot on August 17th.
Registration will be from 6:30-8:00. We will have continental style breakfast. We have two 20 target courses setup, and we will have a Long Shot, Door prizes, T-shirts, and more.Hope to see everyone there!”

“Hey Guys..
I know several of y’all have probably heard about it but we’re trying to do one final push to advertise for this event! For those that don’t know about it, we are holding a 3-D Archery shoot and live auction at Roosevelt State Park in Morton, MS this Saturday August 17th for Reggie Puckett’s family, the fallen Outtech/Hoyt Sales Rep who was killed in a boating accident on June 5th, 2013. Unfortunately Reggie did not have life insurance. His wife, Connie, is a teacher’s assistant and has a little boy. She’s working to try and become a teacher to make a slightly better income but needs our help along the way. We’ve all heard how badly teacher’s are paid, imagine what a teacher’s assistant makes. Every penny of the proceeds will go directly to his family. I know it’s a long drive for several people in Georgia, but Reggie was born and raised in Georgia (Douglasville, I believe). He worked for several sporting goods stores throughout GA and shot competition 3-D archery tournaments all over before he became a sales representative for Outtech/Hoyt and was transferred to MS, where’s he lived for about 7 years. Several dealers and shooters up there should know him and we tried to plan the location of the shoot on the east side of MS to accommodate his family from GA coming down and any other shooters from up that way.The shoot will begin at 8am and end at 5pm (when we’ll take the last entry). Shooters are welcome any time of the day! After the shoot we will have a live auction in the Livingston Performing Arts Center (which will be indoors in the air conditioner)set to begin at 6pm. We’ve had tons of manufacturers donate products and a few hunts donated. We have products from Swarovski, Leupold, Smith and Wesson, H&R, Weatherby, UnderAmour, Hardcore Decoy, Summit Treestands, Millennium Treestands, Hunter’s Safety Systems, Escort Shotguns, Zeiss Optics, PSE, Bear Archery, HHA, Rhinehart and tons more! I’ll try and figure out how to attach a picture to the post so you guys can see the flyer, it has alittle bit more details about how the event is broken down for the shoot. But we will have eight categories of shooters (Men’s Movable, Men’s Fixed, Women’s Traditional, Young Adult, Youth, Eagle and Jr. Eagle) and we’ll have two separate ranges. It’s $20 per adult to shoot the range and $10 for youth. We will also have two novelty shoots. We have prizes for places in each category and the novelties. Also, we will have a tent at registration selling LOTS of stuff and we will be serving plate lunches that day at the park! We really have worked hard to make this event a great success for Reggie’s family but now need as much community support as we can get to come out and enjoy this with us! Please feel free to contact me (Christine) at 601-720-2489 (cell-call or text) or my store number is 601-825-9087 (Van’s Sporting Goods in Brandon, MS just ask for Christine or Jamey). You can also email me at LCJohnston00@gmail.com. I check my email very regularly. Thank you again for any support! Take Care and God Bless and I hope to see y’all there!

We also have a facebook event page set up for the event for more information. Feel free to check it out and join it!!